Kolkata's Durga Puja now in UNESCO 'Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity' list

West Bengal's iconic festival Durga Puja is of great significance to India's cultural heritage. Acknowledging the same, UNESCO on Wednesday announced that the Indian festival has now been included in their World Heritage List. Durga Puja has now been named in the UN body's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

See UNESCO's tweet here:

PM Modi calls Durga Puja's inclusion to UN list 'a matter of great pride'

Reacting to the development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and wrote, "A matter of great pride and joy for every Indian! Durga Puja highlights the best of our traditions and ethos. And, Kolkata’s Durga Puja is an experience everyone must have."

How did UNESCO describe Durga Puja? 

On their official website, UNESCO has stated, "Durga Puja is an annual festival celebrated in September or October, most notably in Kolkata, in West Bengal of India, but also in other parts of India and amongst the Bengali diaspora. It marks the ten-day worship of the Hindu mother-goddess Durga. In the months preceding the festival, small artisanal workshops sculpt images of Durga and her family using unfired clay pulled from the Ganga River. The worship of the goddess then begins on the inaugural day of Mahalaya, when eyes are painted onto the clay images to bring the goddess to life. It ends on the tenth day when the images are immersed in the river from where the clay came."

It further read "Thus, the festival has also come to signify ‘home-coming’ or a seasonal return to one’s roots. Durga Puja is seen as the best instance of the public performance of religion and art, and as thriving ground for collaborative artists and designers. The festival is characterized by large-scale installations and pavilions in urban areas, as well as by traditional Bengali drumming and veneration of the goddess. During the event, the divides of class, religion and ethnicities collapse as crowds of spectators walk around to admire the installations."